Places We Go

Make It Easy

Siblings

October 04, 2009

Let's see . . . since our last post, the following things have occurred:

I attended my first ever Stitch and Pitch along with several of the ladies I knit with on Tuesday evenings. We were going to take two cars but wound up only needing one . . . best thing ever to happen. It truly helps when your driver, the fabulous husband of one of the ladies in question who always calls to give us our estimated departure time on Tuesday evenings, is a former New York City cab driver. Enter car, sit down, laugh a lot, arrive at Citi Field without causing an accident. There were about 200 or so knitters in left field in the promenade (which sounds glamorous as all get out until you realize that it is a nice way of saying "nose bleed" section) all knitting away, which is probably what the Mets were doing, too. There is no other way of excusing the 10 run lead that the Braves had at the bottom of the 3rd. I knit on my EZ moccasins from The Knitter's Almanac; they might be one of the few patterns by EZ that I just don't get . . . truly not liking this pattern, but at least the girls will have a comfy pair of socks when I am done. Oh, and if you ever want free stuff, make sure you have Maryann with you . . . and by free stuff I am talking about books from Nikki Epstein that Nikki autographs to you right before she hands them to over (thanks for the Harding book, my Italian guru).

Owing to my crap skills of cabling and chatting at the same time, I crossed a cable the wrong way three times - it looks very, very drunken - on my latest project, so I had to drop down 18 rows and knit up the correct cable. I sure as hell was not going to rip out 18 rows just to fix four effing stitches. Then, to add insult to injury, the last cable that I knit that night after I actually got to knit was wrong. Maybe it's old age setting in.

Awesome segue . . . the Flyer turned 40 amid suffering from the flu. Sure it wasn't the flu, but it sucked ass nonetheless especially since the girls were home for the weekend. I debated whether I should get him a card that lamented what a pain it was getting older with the health issues or one that explained that he was just a few years away from making crap up . . . and chose the last one. Luckily he is on the mend, but between the two of us, we've been sickish since August 14.

Beth Brown Reinsel visited Mountain Knits and Pearls again for another workshop. This time, she demonstrated different gansey techniques with a small sample sweater. And, shockingly enough, I actually finished this one. Granted, it will never grace a person, bear, or Barbie, but I know of a really nice bottle of wine that has been longing for a hand-knit merino sweater.

Probably the best part of the blog silence, Lola had business in New York City earlier last week, so I hopped on a train (missing my first train by 30 seconds - I counted!) to visit with my sister for a day and a half. I treated her to her first Indian meal, which was excellent by the way, after which we both needed the ten block hike back to the hotel. The following day, I successfully got us to six different shops from the Midtown to the Upper East side to Soho and back again with only one wrong turn . . . and even that wasn't really a wrong turn since I simply didn't read the address on my print out correctly. Even Lola will admit that she was subtly impressed. Hits: Amma for dinner, School Products for the birthday yarn and yak, Knitty City just because. Misses: 'wichcraft for not living up to the hype, the R train for not having its schedule labeled better, and Purl for not having anything that piqued my interest (but I'll let that slide this one time).

And finally, we bought a new mattress. We actually bought the box springs as well, but they wouldn't fit up the stairs . . . just another charming example of why living in a house that was built almost 100 years ago keeps you on your toes.

That's it . . . nothing major, nothing really new, nothing exciting . . . just life. I have several "obligation" knits that I have to get done before I can tackle anything fun and exciting. But all in all, fall is looking to be a pretty interesting season.

October 13, 2008

Can you believe it? A whole year has past & here we are again, Ava's BIRTHDAY! Oh if I could sing you "Happy Birthday", I would. Right now, Ava is thrilled that I don't have a microphone. I'm a tone deaf cow. So pretend like an angel is singing to you "Happy Birthday."

Here are two of my favorite pictures of Ava from this past year.

Gus told me that Ava was going to have a Star Wars birthday party. Maybe for the big one, kiddo.

Tuck's gift to Ava is one more tooth. Well, almost one more tooth, but enough of one to give us a weekend-long headache.

Happy birthday. You are the greatest big sister a girl could have. Thanks for passing along all of you wisdom. My life is better for it.

September 25, 2008

Oh good god, we've got cable! I think that if I had to miss The Office or 30 Rock, I may have lost it. No power for almost a week, I can deal. No Jim & this city would have had a problem.

I think that everyone will eventually have to go through an extended power outage. We just got one sooner. So how did the Great Blow of '08 prepare us for the next black out? I've put together a list of tips & tricks.

If your child's daycare is closed for 2 days, give them plenty of new toys. Gus was trying to lure Tuck into the basket by placing a book in the bottom. I'm not sure what he would have done if Tuck had taken the bait. We didn't get that far because Gus decided to wrestle with him.

Always purchase the large box of wine, you never know when a freak hurricane will hit. I don't know why it should be a box. I think it just sounds cooler when you're sitting in the dark.

When finding a book to read during a freak hurricane, don't pick a book about climate change. While I really enjoy this book, it's not an appropriate book to read at this time. But who kept reading it for the first 3 days? Yep.

If you choose to ignore the above rule, look at the Box of Wine rule. If not by the fourth day, you'll be in the basement building a fabulous new bunker for your family. That's not something to do without a couple glasses of Merlot.

When your husband (and your own sanity) kicks in & forces you to chuck the Climate Change book, don't read a cookbook. You'll only be attracted to recipes that start with "Preheat the oven to 400 degrees." Thankfully, I found the new Mason-Dixon book the day after we lost power. Ann & Kay saved me. I also got The Gentle Art of Domesticity from my library the day before we lost power. It was a nice book to look at, but no power equals no pretty domestic duties.

Never ever try to knit lace by the freakish glow of a halogen bulb. Cleite didn't see much action during my week vacation from power. I did rip Tuck's Trellis & started a knit that doesn't require light. A nice little EZ sweater for the holidays. Like Kay & Ann, it saved me.

Find places that don't need power & let your kid show you the way. Gus loves maps, especially zoo maps. He'd pull it out & show us the places we'd been & where we needed to go. edit to rule: Never go to the zoo if your son got 4 hours of sleep. Eventually that map will be crumpled up & thrown in the trash by your son. Then you'll have to deal with a melt-down in front of the tigers because "My Map" is in the trash.

When the power goes out & you have a load of wet towels in the washer & dryer, go to the laundry mat immediately! If you ignore this rule for 3 days, enjoy the sounds of your husband dry heaving. This is another reason why I could not block Amanda. She'll get done today!

When you have no tv & only AM radio, use your kids for entertainment. Gus & I watched Tuck toss his pacifier out of his crib. Gus would give it to him & tell him "Don't do it again Tuck!" When he'd toss it again, we'd belly laughed for 15 minutes. And when Gus' teachers asked the kids if they had lights, Gus responded "Yeah we got lights, they're just outta power." Good times, but I'm ready for some quality tv laughs.

When cleaning the fridge, go back to the Box of Wine. The smell & sight of dried breast-milk was not an enjoyable way to spend a Monday. At least the Great Blow forced us to get rid of those 3 year-old salad dressings.

It's so nice to be back. I missed the Internet. Ava & I were trying to figure out how to tell if eggs were bad. She says "I'd tell you to go online, but that'd be mean." I had to tell her that I actually went into the office before I realized that it wasn't going to work.

L

p.s. Of course, I'd try to see if the new Knitty was up from my Blackberry. Why make myself suffer? When all of the schools were open, I hit the library. I'm thinking of making L'illo in pink for my newest niece. Tatiana made me smile at the library's computer dock. Probably will never make them, but I love 'em.

August 12, 2008

Quick, quick post before we make the trek to Mom and Dad's to get ready for all the festivities. The Other Sister always says that coming home stresses her out, but for us, it really is like a vacation . . . with some extra yelling for your pleasure.

I landed in C-bus yesterday morning (memo to Continental: 6:20 AM flights are horrible but thank you for offering them), went with Lola and Tuck to his doctor's appointment (100 percentile for length, 78 percentile for weight, 100 percentile for cute), sat like a good little girl for 3.5 hours to finish the tattoo (photos coming later when it looks all pretty and not scarred), and then grabbed a little BW3 with Gus (cute beyond words). Today? Eating and yarn shopping and packing in that order. Why didn't anyone extole the virtues of Dream In Color yarn before hand? I mean, I'm sure someone said it was lovely, but seriously, why not push a little harder in my direction? I picked up a hank of the lace-weight (which seems rather dense, if you ask me) in Good Luck Jade for another Clapotis, but who knows if that will happen or not.

All Points West last Saturday finally hit the point home that I am truly too old to attend all day music festivals. Honestly, at some time, you have to admit that you might not have to energy to make it through the day watching bands that you only marginally know (but obviously I took photos - duh!). To combat that, the Flyer and I took the ferry to Ellis Island and Liberty Island for some cheap fun. Sia? Excellent concert again. Kings of Leon? Betty, you have my permission to marry any of the Followill brothers, but you know the two your mamaprefers. Radiohead? Great show, but I'm not a committed fan. I only know a handful of songs, so I didn't have that near-religious experience that so many others did, including the nice young man in front of us. Sir, it was a pleasure watching your ecstasy kick in . . . a pleasure. In the end, my paranoia about making the train kicked in and we left partway through the show. I know, I know - concert sacrilege but I did it and I've dealt with it.

So, this might be our last post until Sunday, unless you see one that says, "Help us. Send yarn now." If you see that, we mean business.

Ava (and Lola)

PS - Even though we know she doesn't read it, we can't help but saying Happy Birthday to our little sister, whom we dearly love, despite what you might think by calling her the "Other Sister."

June 29, 2008

An early flight is one thing; after all, I've had flights at 6 AM before but couple that with a very small regional jet, a seat mate who both doesn't adhere to the boundaries of the 14-inch seat and insists on bathing in the most heinous cologne known to God and man and you kind of get an Ava who is alternating between a migraine and retching on said seat mate. Compound it with not enough space to knit and you get a picture that isn't terribly pretty.

I wasn't very clear with the size of the tattoo that I wanted. When I emailed Lola and SK the design, I neglected to say that I wanted it exactly as is (minus the sticky note part). So, after sitting for about 90 minutes, I have the most lovely outline of cherry blossoms with one colored bloom and an appointment for August 11th to finish the job . . . just in time for the wedding debut.

The Flyer's Cobblestone is a zombie knit and so far, so good, but can I tell you how much in love I am with Cascade 220 Superwash? This, my friends, might become the workhorse yarn of my arsenal. I'm hoping to have the Cobblestone done in time for his birthday, which I think is doable.

We stopped at Knitter's Merchantile yesterday and walked out without a purchase (there are first times for everything). I might be tempted to make a return for some of the Panda Silk that they have . . . but I doubt it. Fabric? That's another story. Fabric seemed to jump off the racks and throw itself at us (hussy!). Not sure what I'll do with half of it, but I think that I'm making a Note Taker and an Emmeline apron out of some of the fabric. Oh, I did find yarn at Jo-Anne's but I'll save that for home.

Once I get home, I'm wholeheartedly committed to finishing the trellis and leaf shawl so that leads to one more impassioned plea (okay, really I'm begging) for a skein of Cider Moon's Pandora Rose in any fingerling weight. I have a hank of it in the DK but the difference is perceptible. If you have any (or know of anyone who has one), please, please, please name your price or poison. I have some Trekking XXL in a dark plum (147) that will have to do if I can't track some down. Luckily Joanne talked me out of my first choice . . . a lovely puce which would serve to say, "I'm an asshole who didn't buy enough yarn to finish it properly."

More after the quilt show tomorrow . . . and some St. Bridget's!Ava & Lola

PS - We've been mesmerized by the Infinity dress so Lola stitched up her own. For your enjoyment . . . discuss.

June 22, 2008

So, are you happy, Lola? I mean . . . it's only your birthday today! And if that isn't enough, some of my favorite photos in digital form as I am too lazy to scan the others. Hope you have a good one, enjoy that Quarterpounder, and see you in a few days.

June 12, 2008

The new Knitty is up. Perhaps you've already motored over there, perhaps not. Personally, not much that interests me other than the lace wrap and the garter, but that could be from some ill-conceived attempt at giving our new sister-in-law something new and blue from the family. The only problem with that would be explaining to the Bro why he had to measure his intended's thigh and why it needs to be accurate (ie - not measured in tongue flicks or whips of licorice).

Speaking of the Bro, he's being a bit of a douche these days. Granted he did just get a job working for an arm of Move On.org and we're as proud as two sisters who have held down jobs since they were 14 can be, but that doesn't give him liberty to get all hoity-toity with us. Expect more fireworks to come.

The other sister has been hunkered down in her basement (literally) with her kids as Tornado Alley has been spending time in Omaha. Last night our mom called to tell us that there were tornadoes in the other sister's general area and then got pissed when we weren't tuning into the local Omaha news on the Internet with her. She's fine, by the way.

Countdown is on for a C-bus trip. Lola and I are headed to the quilt show on Monday, June 29, if anyone is interested. We have no clue what we are doing there, but I know one thing: my back should be nice and tender from a new tattoo so no back slaps, capice.

More on the weekend . . . and much, much more knitting to come. After all, school is out in a mere five days (business days, that is).

Ava

PS - I started a new blog to go with the Word Nerd Co-op. Don't expect a lot out of it except for writing.

February 12, 2008

All plans for a PS 3 post went out the window when Tuck decided to finally turn on me. Finding & taking pretty red/orange/pink pictures isn't easy when you're working off of 4 hours of sleep. We could have had a lovely collage of Tuck in various shades of red, but I was too busy begging him to keep his eyes shut. So instead, Ava & I decided to become engrossed with the Britney Spears drama. At least our nights aren't as bad as hers. Sure one more night of Tuck screaming, & you might have found us sitting on a corner clutching Pup. Thankfully, Tuck slept last night, so no fake British accents or a cocktail mix of prescription drugs for these Sheep. At least for today . . .

Let's talk knits, friends. When Ava got into town, I had just received my issue of Spring Interweave. As always, I got excited to see what was inside. I saw the preview, but there are usually a couple of patterns that are left out. I wanted to see those patterns to make my judgments on the issue. Everything in the preview was in the magazine. No pleasant surprises. Perhaps it's because Spring knitting just isn't that exciting, but we were both unimpressed with the issue & have been with the past 2 issues. What's even more surprising is we have yet to find another blogger or thread that shares our views. Are other bloggers just really nice and we're really bitchy? Maybe Interweaves doesn't fit our taste any longer? I would be surprised if this were true. We aren't sitting around creating artistic knit items. Sure, some of the patterns are pretty, but knit worthy? Not for us. But why do knitters only voice praise for a magazine? Is it because we look forward to knit magazine so much and feel bad if we're disappointed? Whatever the reasons, we'd like to see a great issue real soon.

So, what's on the needles? Did Tuck ask for anything specific other than a boob in his mouth? Well, Koolhass and no. We both decided to give Malabrigo a go and figured since so many others had great success with Jared's pattern and the yarn that we'd buy a ticket for the train and see where it took us. So far, two repeats in, all is well on the Koolhaas Express. In fact, Ava could have her finished before she gets on the plane back East . . . if she gets on the plane (shit-tastic weather here and at home). Granted, knitting through the back loop is a pain when you aren't used to it, but so far, so good. Tuck was being entertained by the knitting lingo so maybe there is hope for the boys yet, but if you look very closely, we're pretty sure that it's the Jedi mind trick thing he's trying to perfect, not cabling without a needle.

We'll get PS 3 and ABC Along posts up soon. Ava is still trying to pick a C word (mind out of the gutter, folks . . . that one would be too easy). If she gets on a plane this afternoon and makes it home to snuggle in her own bed, it just may be Continental.

Lola and Ava

PS - Because you are probably waiting on pins and needles (and thus in an uncomfortable position), Ava chose the Hollyhock colorway for her Koolhaas and Lola picked Glazed Carrots - always looking out for her family's nutrition, that one is. Let's face it, Lola will be done with hers well before Ava . . . even with the two repeat head start since it really is a fast and dirty knit.

February 01, 2008

A formal proclimation first: Happy Birthday, Little Prince! Your Aunt Ava (yes, he and his sister call me that as his father, MC,was nice enough to point out) is crap at sending out birthday pressies on time and probably always will be, but something is on its way to you very shortly. Now, on with the knitting.

Stupid writers' strike . . . not that I am blaming the writers for wanting a fair stake of media moola, but seriously I can't take much more of the crap that the networks are churning out. I fell in love with Pushing Daisies and that seems to be, well, pushing daisies for the time being. Luckily for me there wasEli Stone last night so all is right with Ava's quirky side. Jonny Lee Miller? Hello, my pretty. Victor Garber? Sit down a spell while I knit. George Michael? Just stay out of the parks and we'll be fine.

Look at Lola's needles and you will see just one thing . . . one fucking thing. Mine? Sure there are several items listed, but I lie. You could conceivably add five more to that list and you might just scratch the surface. Why do knitters do this? When you find out, let me know and then we'll do an expose for Interweave Knits (and no, I wasn't impressed with the preview). For now, I am trying to concentrate on three things: the Mars baby hoodie, the trellis and leaf shawl, and Beaner's sweater. Did I forget to mention that socks don't count? I did? Oh, socks don't count . . . they keep me sane and sanity is a good thing.

The Mars sweater is progressing nicely. I opted to use the yarn called for in the book - DB's Cashmerino Aran. Was it a splurge? Yup. Do I really, really like the mother-to-be? You betcha. Is she a knitter? Affirmative. Am I mortified by my one error? Kill me now. Apparently, I forgot to do a decrease and so I dropped the stitches down and now it looks all wonky. Hopefully she will be kind enough to overlook it or even lie and say, "Why, no, Ava, I don't see that glaring error on the front of the sweater very near the top and the button. What ever are you talking about?" While I enjoy the yarn, I remembered yesterday why I don't knit very many Debbie Bliss patterns: no schematics, confusing directions, and a lot of assumptions. I called Lola in a near panic last night about the hood. Couldn't I just increase around the hood section instead of casting off 35 stitches and then casing on 60 stitches? My theory made sense to the both of us, but in actual practice it looked like shit so I ripped back and did as Debbie said.

Lola and I always go back and forth about telling our mom about the blog. It's been really hard sometimes to keep it quiet, but so far we've been "good" about it. Our big fear isn't about our mom . . . it's about our other sister. Let's face it, when you call a person the "other sister" there is the misconception that we don't like her. Nothing could be further from the truth . . . we love and adore our sister, but she doesn't knit and sometimes our views on life conflict with hers. Everyone has a role in their family whether they want to admit it or not. Our sister was always the "nice" one . . . we're still not quite sure what ours are. Pain in the ass? Smart mouth? When our family finds out - and truly it will happen at some point - we fear our sister's wrath more than Mom's because it will be one more thing that we didn't share or include her in. Trust me, I tried to teach her to knit, but she didn't want to. So, for the record, we love, love, love the other sister and always will . . . even when she is pissed at us about the blog.

PS - Um, if you didn't catch the "naughty influence fly into town" reference in Lola's last post, I'll be winging my way to C-bus on Friday. Tuck has a doctor's appointment, and I'm there to help. Besides, what are sisters for if not to influence their siblings a little bit? I hear the Malabrigo calling now. The yarn in question above? STR's Rolling Stone and Tlingit . . . apparently they love Betty's boots as much as I do. And yes, the "real" camera will be back as soon as the battery recharges. I might replace the photos as soon as that happens.

November 19, 2007

Only because Lola hates that song did I pick the title . . . that and it can't hurt to have 'sex' in the title. Obviously if I am posting at 9:40 AM on a Monday, there is something amiss with the weather. This being the Poconos, that could mean rain, snow, sleet, hail, or sun . . . today it is a combination of the first two and a half. Lucky for me, I can post before the holidays and parent/teacher conferences, which begin tomorrow at noon.

I probably should have guessed that this wouldn't be an easy trip when I sat on the plane in Newark for 45 minutes waiting to take off and then another 30 for reasons unknown. Needless to say, I was thrilled to touch down in Columbus and see Lola in all her big-belly glory. Yes, sweetie, you are big . . . but only in the tummy. Betty likens it to how Bridget Moynahan looked before her little one hatched. From the back, you would never guess Lola was pregnant, even when she was running after Gus in the fabric store on Friday morning (question: why would a store in Columbus, Ohio, invite Amy Butler to town for a trunk show/book signing on the day of the OSU/UM game?). Mom was suitably surprised when I rang the doorbell so that was nice. The Other Sister was also surprised as were her kids. I think I had more fun this weekend playing with the kids (or getting them riled up with "disgusting" talk of farts and poop and burps). Beaner, our niece, wears a lot of pink, but she is as rough and tumble as they get. I started a "Sassafras" club with her, probably because I knew it would irritate the Other one. Gus was as hilarious as ever and made ups songs for every occasion ("Grandpa said 'Lay back down and go to sleep' then Ava came and got me up") and continues to make me laugh on a regular basis. Lola, you have a great kid there and TBA already has a very loving brother.

On the knitting front, I actually finished something - amazing, isn't it? The first Veil of Leaves sock is done and was autumnal in nature. I had just enough to get to the toe so that's where I started with the Oregon Red Clover Honey. Not surprisingly, I forgot to write down the directions for the star toe, but Betty rescued me with a quick reading of the directions. Thankfully I brought along the Plane Project from the summer and got through about four repeats. Amazing how this project comes back to you. Because of the three hour delay, on and off the plane, the knitting kept my attention away from all the bumps and ill-behaved fliers with me. Note to other passengers: a shrill laugh is not charming, neither is making comments about how much the carrier owes you for your wait. For the young lady who had a panic attack, I felt your pain, both for the situation and for the stares of the other passengers. Thanks to the pilot who said he would get us there before the day was over and just call it "same day service" - much appreciated. To my seat mate who merely smiled, said how pretty the yarn was, and then never said another word - THANK YOU!

Meijers in Springfield had a bevy of Britishcandybars; many literally jumped into my
shopping cart. The kids and the Flyer got some candy . . . I had some
nifty tees waiting for my arrival! If I don't post before Thanksgiving, may you all have a happy and stress free one. Enjoy your families and take some time for knitting. Since it will be a traditional Ava Thanksgiving, that means ordering most of the food from Wegman's and spending time without washing tons of dishes. The girls leave the day after Turkey Day for Orlando with Bunnylips and family, so the Flyer and I are considering a quick run into the City when we drop them off at Newark - crazy, don't you think?

Ava

PS - Happy birthday, Tricia! Lucky you - getting to spend it with your kids on a snow day!